(upbeat music) - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag."

My name is Rob Sharkey, I'm a fifth-generation farmer.

I started a podcast that led to an XM Radio show, which led to a national television show, which led to me being right here today.

But today is not about me, today is about Erin Brown.

Hi, Erin.

- Hi.

- How are you doing?

- Good.

- It's been a while.

- It's been a long time.

- Last time I talked to you was on the "SharkFarmer Television Show."

- Yeah.

- Yes, and you were telling the world about taking pictures in that.

- Yeah.

- I remember we got some good feedback.

People said you had a good eye.

- That's hilarious.

I couldn't bring myself to even watch that show (chuckles) 'cause I thought I did so terribly.

- So, okay.

(Erin laughing) Let me get this straight.

We asked you to be on "SharkFarmer" which is a national television show.

We interviewed you, because of COVID, it was Skype.

- Yup.

- And not even that could get you to watch the show.

- No.

(Erin chuckles) - They say television's easy.

(Erin and Rob laughing) Local girl originally, Edelstein.

- Yep.

- So I'm not sure everybody knows where that's at.

- Just North of Peoria.

So, Peoria, Dunlap, Edelstein.

- [Rob] Yeah.

And you grew up on a farm?

- Yeah.

- So tell me about that.

What was growing up like for you?

- Telling mom and dad that maybe they should have had a few more boys.

(Erin laughing) So, it's both of my sister and I, and then we have a younger brother, but they made us do all the farm chores.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- Corn and soybean farm.

There's not a ton of chores that young kids could do, but they made sure that we grew sweet corn, and baled hay, and painted barns, and yeah, we.

(Erin laughing) - I'll say, if you're gonna be a grain farmer, you wanna minimalize your work, right?

- That's not how my parents looked at it anyway.

(Rob and Erin laughing) - Did you have any livestock growing up?

- We had some bottle calves.

That was another, they'd just go to the sale barn and pick out a few bottle calves.

I don't think that we ever made any money off of them.

- [Rob] Did you sell them?

- No, we weren't in for it or anything.

So it was just kind of a kids you need to get up and have some responsibility, sort of a project.

- So if you grew up in Edelson, what school did you go to?

- Princeville.

- Princeville?

- Yeah.

- I'll speak slower.

(Erin and Rob laughing) - We're a great school.

- Okay.

You got into photography, and it kind of exploded like right off the bat.

First of all, what got you interested in taking pictures?

- Yeah.

So I had my senior pictures taken downtown here, not too far from the studio.

And I just thought that it looked like fun, thought that I could do something like that.

Started my portrait photography business.

Well, first ran around taking as many pictures of my friends and my sister and brother as they would let me.

Always begging them to model for me.

- When you were in like college?

- No, high school.

- High school?

Younger.

Okay.

- Yeah Yeah, I was a senior in high school, and then- - You have the little camera that spun to advance?

- No, I (chuckles) chisel plowed so I could buy a DSLR camera, and- - Whoa, whoa.

(Erin laughing) Whoa.

If you ever want an agriculture phrase set on this show, it was just that.

I chisel plowed so I could afford a camera.

That's how you made your money by chisel plowing?

- Yes.

I wanted a camera really badly, and my mom and dad were like, that's fine, but you can earn it.

There's a tractor sitting out there hooked up to the chisel plow, like keep track of your hours.

(Erin and Rob laughing) - [Rob] Do you remember what that first camera was?

- It was a Canon.

I wanna say it was like a 50D or something.

- Was it digital?

- I don't remember.

Yeah, it was.

- Okay, so you started out, at least with a- - I'm not that old.

(Erin laughing) - Some of us are.

Okay, that's fine.

This is going great, Erin.

(Rob laughing) So, you started taking pictures of, I'm sure, sunsets, tractors, your friends.

What happened from there?

- Yeah, so from there I took an internship which was back in 2012.

So that was kind of the age of, you could have kind of anonymous Facebook pages that just like put information out into the world.

So, I started taking pictures and overlaying ag facts on top of those pictures and posting them.

And nobody had really done that yet.

So, they were really well received by the ag community and they started getting a share.

- Whoa, you're not gonna skim over that.

It's a little more than well-received.

These things, they kind of went everywhere.

- They're.

- And I have teased you in the past, but I have been yet to be corrected.

You invented the meme.

(Erin chuckles) - I might've invented the meme, but I don't know.

I'm a country kid, from rural Illinois.

So memes might've existed in San Francisco and I would have had no idea.

- It was, this is hard to explain, right?

To people watching it today because it's so commonplace.

But to take a picture and then put the words over it like that, it wasn't being done.

- Right.

- In agriculture, I think it's pretty safe to say you were the first one.

- Yeah.

- That's right.

Edelstein farm girl invented the meme.

- Yep.

- Dang.

(Erin and Rob laughing) I mean, we had posters, right?

You remember the cat hanging there baby?

- No.

(Erin chuckles) - How old are you?

- I'll be 30 in a few months.

- Oh, well, la-di-da.

(Rob chuckles) - No, that's a big milestone.

- We're gonna move on.

(Erin and Rob laughing) It was.

It really took off.

It seemed like maybe one of the commodity groups kind of embraced it.

How did all that work?

- So I was Illinois Corn's intern.

- [Rob] Okay.

- So they kind of chauffeured me around a bit like digitally.

So they'd kind of say, hey, she's one of ours, like, this is what she's doing.

Because a lot of people were saying, this is funded by Monsanto, and I'm like, I wish it was funded by Monsanto.

- [Rob] It would have been nice.

- Right.

Right.

So there was a lot of that going around, and they would kind of be like, no, she's actually 19 years old, 20 years old doing this from her kitchen table, sort of a thing, so.

- Just came to you to do that?

- Yeah.

My family, we're just, we're ideas people.

And we get together around the kitchen table.

We're throwing out business ideas left and right, and always trying to figure out how we can kind of make something from nothing.

And yeah, just wanted to figure out a way to help make ag's messages more interesting so people would pay attention to them.

- You did that, it took off, what was the next step?

I'm trying to connect the dots between a high school farm girl that chisel plowed enough to get a camera to someone that made a career, because you're doing what I hear so many people say they wanna do.

- Mm-hmm.

- They wanna take pictures in agriculture, they want to categorize it, they want to get a record of it.

Everybody wants to do it.

You're not only one of the pioneers, but you were one of the ones that are actually making a living at it.

- Yeah.

I mean, I think it definitely helps to be one of the first and to get your name out there and to, I mean, at a fairly young age, have some industry like name recognition and some agency contacts and that kind of thing.

But right out of college, I jumped into self-employment.

So I bought a house in Dunlap, and sat down and was like, here we go, let's see if we can make this work.

So I was doing design work for commodity groups, and custom shoots here and there.

And then when I was 22, 23, I mean, shortly after I got started, Elanco started hiring me to do some of their shoots.

So that really kind of- - [Rob] Which is a lifestyle company?

- Yep.

So they're an animal health company, and they flew me down to Texas, and I was doing pictures on ranches and dairies, and that kind of thing.

And that really kind of opened the world up for me.

- Had you done much on the livestock side?

- Oh, no, I didn't know anything.

I mean, they were teaching this corn and soybean girl a difference between a cow and a steer, so.

(Erin chuckles) - You gotta feel pretty good at that point though?

Right?

Because you were, it was a legit.

- Yeah.

- That was getting a paycheck for you.

- Yeah.

It was legit.

It felt really good.

But I mean, something I think I was unprepared for is when you work by yourself, you don't have any kind of comradery, or coworkers that are saying, oh, wow, that looks really good.

You're just sending it off to a client and hoping that they're happy with what you've done.

And at 22, 23 years old, I mean, there's a lot of insecurities that are still.

- I really hadn't thought about that.

That would be tough to deal with.

- Mm-hmm.

I mean, I'm signing off- - Especially at that age.

- Yeah.

You're signing off contracts to companies that have lawyers upon lawyers.

- Well of course, mom doesn't count, right?

Everything you show, mom's oh, that's beautiful.

- Right.

Right.

Which is great.

You need that, but still.

- Did you have someone in that point in your life that was looking at your work going, that could be better there, this could be better there, someone that was guiding you, or did you have to learn all that yourself?

- Yeah, that was mostly me, but I'm a really good critic of myself.

- [Rob] Are you?

(Erin laughing) - It doesn't, I mean, still to this day, I mean, you're always looking at ways to make your work better, so.

- Have you always been creative?

- Yeah.

My mom likes to take credit for the amount of finger painting I did as a child.

(Erin laughing) But, I mean.

- Are those for sale somewhere?

- I'm sure she's got them somewhere.

But I mean, I scrapbooked as a junior high student, and when.

- [Rob] Really?

(Rob laughing) - Yeah.

Like all the grandma activities, but it was creative.

- Are you on an old soul?

- Oh, for sure.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Old creative soul.

- Yeah.

- Like in high school art or whatever, right?

Did the art teacher say, oh, Erin, you're creative?

I mean, did you know it going into this that my mind works a little different when I'm looking at something than other people?

- So I wouldn't say that I'm traditionally creative.

I don't draw, I don't paint.

I don't do anything like that.

I'm digitally creative.

I like to piece things together to tell a story.

So I actually didn't take art until my senior year of high school.

- [Rob] Really?

- I took ag, I took industrial arts.

So, I learned drafting and how to use all the saws, and that kind of thing, and really, truly enjoyed it.

I really had no intention of even doing much in agriculture until I was a senior in high school.

- [Rob] Mm-hmm.

- And I took ag business, otherwise, like the farm was great, but you kind of take for granted how you grow up until you look at leaving.

I think at least I did.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- So.

- You're getting paid to do shoots, is that what we call job, shoots, gigs, shoots?

- Photo shoots.

- Photo shoots.

That's so cool.

You're getting paid to go on people's farm and do that?

- Mm-hmm.

- What does that mean?

Because I'm a farmer.

Pretty skeptical of letting people onto my farm, especially when they're taking pictures.

How do you earn that trust?

- I mean, I think (chuckles) when people hang out with me, they don't get, a lot of people know my sister, and when you hang out with her, you just feel a little bit cooler, like you.

- [Rob] Your sister's cool?

- Sure, she's very cool.

- Is she?

- Yes.

In real life too, not just online.

She's a very cool person, but I- - She's an online personality too?

- Yes.

- It's a no- - No Roots Boots.

- No Roots Boots, yup.

- Yup.

But I am more of a, I hope you feel comfortable around me.

I hope that when you're around me you feel heard.

You're not gonna feel cool, I'm not that cool, but I hope that you feel comfortable to show up as you really are, because like I'm, as I've grown older, I think I've just realized that, you realize that nobody's perfect, and we've all got our stuff, everybody has stuff.

And so when I show up on these farms, it doesn't matter to me that your three-year-old is throwing a tantrum.

I have a three-year-old that throws a tantrum too, and I'm the first person to say like, don't worry about it.

I get, it's hard to discipline your kids when there's somebody else there.

Like, I feel that too.

It's okay if you have trash in your garage, like I have a tractor sitting out in my front yard that isn't working right now, like we are.

- Weeds around the bins.

That's what I'm afraid of, when people, you're shooting, I'm afraid that you're gonna take a shot and people will see that I've got ragweeds around my bin.

- Yeah.

And for me, I'm like, if that bothers you, I'll Photoshop that out 'cause like, I want you to be proud of, I'm not there for you.

And (chuckles) maybe I'll put it this way.

Anytime anybody has somebody new over, like we're scrubbing the house, we're trying to make everything look just perfect too.

So when a photographer comes, like, of course you feel that way.

So when I walk in, I want to have like that genuine, authentic, like, hey, here's me and all of my imperfections.

I'm a little awkward too.

So trust me, like, you're gonna look good compared to me, in that kind of way.

- I think you're cool.

- Oh, thanks.

(Erin laughing) - And I'm cool.

(Erin laughing) I'm damn cool.

- You are.

You're a lot cooler than I am.

- I'm cool, but I don't talk about myself.

I am very introverted.

We've talked about this before.

I'm very introverted.

I'm very shy when it comes to allowing people into my life.

When it came to, I needed photographs of myself, I needed head shots when the "SharkFarmer" stuff was taking off.

I didn't wanna do it, 'cause I didn't want someone to take it.

I don't know, it was just weird to me.

- Mm-hmm.

- I called you, because I'd met you, I trusted you, you have a way of calming me down, making me feel like you are going to do what's in my best interest.

Is that what you do to these people?

- Oh, 100%.

Like I am here to serve.

I am a guest when I come on somebody's farm.

Like I'm not there to make them feel anything, but like, wow, what you do is, it's beautiful, it's incredible.

Like, no, it's not perfect because none of us are, but I want you to see the beauty in your everyday life because we all know, we're all very aware of what isn't beautiful about our lives.

- You're very good about telling people don't stand that way 'cause you look fat, but you didn't say that.

You said it in a way and you were like, I'll stand this way.

And then I realized, oh yeah, she's telling me.

- I don't even remember having that thought.

(Erin laughing) - I do.

(Rob and Erin laughing) Tell me about this shoot down in Texas.

Oh, you went, they flew you down?

- Yeah.

So, part of those shoots for Elanco is we were going and highlighting producers, so to get them more comfortable and telling their story online, and kind of showing up and saying like, this is what we do.

Because even in 14, 15, like everybody in production agriculture was just really kind of scared about the activists coming after them and especially in animal agriculture.

- [Rob] Yeah.

- Nobody wants to get shut down.

Nobody wants the crazy things that we hear about to happen to us.

So, it was my job to go out there and just make what they did look beautiful.

And part of that was they flew me from ranch to ranch to ranch on a private airplane, and that, I was just this wide-eyed country girl, that I'd never seen anything like that before.

And I think most of the people surrounding me were in their late 30s to 60s and they really got a kick out of that, so.

- It's pretty, I mean, from a farm girl taking pictures in Edelstein to be going around on a private plane.

- Yeah.

Never in my wildest dreams when I was in that chisel plow, earning money for a camera did I think that this was, I mean, I was going to school for agribusiness, like.

- Tell me the craziest thing that has happened to you on a shoot.

(Erin laughing) - I was standing down in a dairy parlor.

So you're sunk down beneath the cows and.

- [Rob] There were parlors where there were milking cows?

- Yep, where they were milking cows, so all the workers are sunk down deep, or not deep, but kind of five feet or so below where the cows are standing, so when a cow poops like it really splatters, and I was.

- [Rob] And they do that?

- And they do that while they're being milked.

(Erin laughing) And I was very naive and didn't know that that could happen, I was just focused on getting the shot, and pretty soon I felt something on my back.

And this sweet Hispanic lady, she spoke very little English and I speak very little Spanish, was trying to tell me like what just happened.

And she helped me get all cleaned up.

And it was very sweet.

(Erin chuckles) It could have been worse.

- What happened?

- I mean, I was out on a shoot, so all we could do was just.

- I'm joking.

You got pooped on?

- Yeah.

(Rob chuckles) Oh, did I not say that like outright enough?

(Rob laughing) Sorry.

- Yeah.

I don't think I could get you to swear on the show, could I?

- Probably not.

Not on the show.

I'm very aware of- - Sounds like a challenge now.

- I'm very aware of all the lights right now.

- Really?

- Yes.

- Are you a shy person?

- I'm a one-on-one person.

- [Rob] Mm-hmm.

- Shy, introvert, for sure.

- [Rob] Lucky for you nobody watches us.

(Erin laughing) - I'm sure.

(Erin and Ron laughing) - But you've definitely broke out of that several, I mean, you came on the other show.

I mean, you've done things where you were recognizing and you have to be around a lot of people.

Is that a challenge for you?

- I used to do speaking engagements.

- [Rob] Really?

- Yeah.

I mean, just one of those things that you have to burst outside your comfort zone.

I know I'm not gonna make a living being on TV because that's not my sweet spot.

I knew I wasn't gonna make a living doing speaking engagement because that's not my sweet spot, but you kind of have to continue to do things that push yourself to open up new and different opportunities.

And I think that's part of the reason why I've gotten where I am to, to go back to your previous question, how have I made a career out of this?

And you just have to keep pushing yourself, and do things that's not always comfortable.

- Not taking away from all the hard work you've done, but you're incredibly talented.

You do.

You have a way of looking at stuff that I know I definitely wouldn't.

I could never do what you do.

Do you realize that?

- Yeah, I think so.

Mostly when I ask (laughs) my mom or dad or some family member to take a picture of me, I'm like, oh gosh.

(Erin and Rob laughing) That's not at all how I would've framed that.

(Erin and Rob laughing) So, yeah.

There's a lot of hard work involved, yes.

- This is where you just take the compliment.

- Oh, thank you.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Tell me about this new project where you're doing a library.

- Yeah.

So as I go out and do these customs shoots, so many of these are being hired out and they don't need anything super specific, but they just need a library of images because it's so hard to find good, realistic ag pictures online, stock pictures, from like iStock or Getty or one of the big companies, because most of those agriculture images are sourced from Eastern Europe, or it just doesn't look American.

- I've noticed that.

There's a lot of them that are, they have the European field.

- Yes.

And you can tell, I mean, there's a difference in a European farmer and American farmer.

And so we're trying to bring that to the table for these big ag companies who need that type of imagery, and at the same time connect, I mean, there's a lot of talented photographers in the middle of nowhere who haven't had the opportunities, who didn't, I mean, a lot of my success too, is I was in the right place at the right time, and they didn't have that opportunity.

They just didn't get as lucky as I did.

So I'm taking all of those people kind of in under my brand while still giving them name recognition and letting them put their work on the website, and they're letting me feature their stuff and sell it, and be a way for them to earn income for what, the beautiful stuff that they capture.

- So you're spearheading this?

- Mm-hmm.

- So, 18 photographers altogether?

- Yeah, yeah.

- You're taking their portfolios.

And then how does that work?

So, like an egg company comes to you and say, hey, we need some pictures of a dairy, and they buy them from you?

- Yeah.

So they don't even have to come to me, they can just visit our website.

They go to grandvalegallery.com and they can, it's just, it functions just like any big stock website, so they can click and say, I want this one, this one, and this one, add to cart, instant download.

So it's really easy.

And then if they need anything, there's like a Contact Us button and they can make photo requests.

So if they want a flock of sheep, for example, like I'll send that to a photographer out in Idaho where they have flocks sheep, not somebody's 4-H sheep here in Central Illinois.

(Erin laughing) - Sheep are sheep, right?

And is this, I mean, is this going to be your career?

Is this your business?

- I hope so.

- Yeah.

- I mean, I hope that this is, I think it's the future.

It's not quite taking off just yet.

There's a lot of hours, and a lot of building into it.

- [Rob] I can only imagine.

- But, I mean, when you have ag companies taking photos from people's Instagram pages and just crediting, this came from Erin B like without even linking their social handle, like that just, to me that feels kind of gross.

I think that that person should be paid for the work that they've done when you have these massive companies, basically.

- [Rob] They've got the money.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- They have the budget.

So I hope to be the connector between the company and the talent, the rural talent, taking these pictures really representing American farmers.

- I'm sure you're going to get it done.

If people wanna find you on social media or the internet, where do they go?

- Grand.vale.co both on Facebook and Instagram, grand.vale.co, and vale is V-A-L-E. - What is that, Grand Vale?

- Is short for valley.

So, it was supposed to be Grand Valley, and that's written on the side of my family's barn.

So that's the place where I got my work ethic, that's where I started my talent, it's where I get my encouragement, my inspiration.

So I just thought it was good to name my business after it.

- Oh, that's good.

I mean, if I was your mom and dad, that would be really cool to see that business, and you naming the farm and getting it all together.

- Yeah.

- Yes.

You've done very well, because it's so saturated, right?

Everyone with a cell phone, everyone that thinks they're gonna be photographer, to rise above that and actually get a name made up for yourself as like the Premier Agriculture Photographer, it really shows the work ethic and the talent that you have.

And it's been so much fun for me dragging you on these shows (chuckles) getting you out of that little comfort zone and showing the world what you can do.

It's truly amazing.

So, Erin Brown, thank you.

Thank you so much for being on the show again.

Really appreciate it, and everyone else.

We hope you catch us next week.

(upbeat music)